The song is written by Swedish songwriters Gabriel Alares, Joakim Björnberg, by Australian Katrina Noorbergen and by Russians Leonid Gutkin and Vladimir Matetsky.

[6] The 63-year-old singing contest in which viewers phone in to vote for their favourite has always largely been political, says Karen Fricker, a professor of Dramatic Arts at the Brock University of Canada who was in Vienna for the grand final.

Conchita Wurst, who was condemned by leading Russian religious figures following her win last year, called the boos “incomprehensible” and said that Gagarina “cannot be blamed for the rules” in her home country.

Conservative Russians viewed Conchita Wurst as a threat to traditional family values, and expressed concern about hosting the Eurovision Song Contest if Russia won.

Despite the negative reaction from the Eurovision crowd, Russia's entry Polina Gagarina came in a respectable second place after Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw took the crown with the song Heroes.